Natural rubber prices had received some support over the past couple of months as Thailand introduced a government-backed deal to purchase 300,000 tonnes of Thai rubber at above-market rates in an effort to support farmers' incomes.

Prices in Thailand and Malaysia also received support after it was announced that the top three natural rubber producing countries (Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia) had made plans to cut production and natural rubber exports in an attempt to reverse recent price falls.

These countries are aiming to cut exports by 300,000 tonnes year-on-year in the six months to March 2013. In addition, they plan to reduce production by accelerating the felling of around 100,000 hectares of aging rubber trees over this period. If realised, this may lower exports by a further 150,000 tonnes

Rubber is a major part of many industries. Although synthetic rubber (oil derivatives) gets popular, natural rubber is still very much in demand, especially in tyre manufacturing.

I am not so sure if condom industry is providing a new lifeline to our production or as to whether we are the world's largest producer of such a product.

Whatever it is, we have been surviving on rubber exports long before Merdeka and until the present day. We should continue listing it as one of our priorities.

It is only two weeks since his re-election, and his second term remains two months away, but Barack Obama is already blundering again on the world stage, with the kind of gaffes that would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times if they had been committed by George W. Bush when he was in the White House. Obama's first term was littered with foreign policy gaffes, and there is every chance the second term will be more of the same. On his trip to Asia this week, President Obama struggled to pronounce the name of Aung San Suu Kyi, the most prominent human rights activist in the world. As The Associated Press reports (hat tip: Drudge Report):

As Obama stood next to the world's most recognized democracy icon, he mispronounced her name repeatedly. Ever gracious, Suu Kyi did not correct her American guest for calling her Aung YAN Suu Kyi multiple times during his statement to reporters after their meeting. Proper pronunciation for the Nobel laureate's name is Ahng Sahn Soo Chee.

The meeting came after Obama met with Myanmar's reformist new President Thein Sein – a name he also botched. As the two addressed the media, Obama called his counterpart "President Sein," an awkward, slightly affectionate reference that would make most Burmese cringe. Note to presidential advisers: For future rounds of diplomacy, the president of Myanmar is President Thein Sein – on first and second reference.

In addition, as The Weekly Standard notes, Obama was quick to use the Burmese regime's preferred word "Myanmar", to describe Burma, which is not the term officially used by the US government, or by Burma's opposition activists.

President Barack Obama called Burma 'Myanmar' after a bilateral meeting with Thein Sein, the president of that country. From the pool report: Obama used the word "Myanmar," the preferred terminology of the former military government and currently nominally civilian government, in a spray following the bilat, rather than use "Burma," the former name of the country, and the one preferred by Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the name the U.S. uses."I've shared with him the fact that I recognize this is just the first steps on what will be a long journey," Obama told reporters, with Thein Sein at his side. "But we think a process of democratic and economic reform here in Myanmar that has been begun by the president is one that can lead to incredible development opportunities.

It is rather embarrassing, as well as sad, that the leader of the free world can't even pronounce the name of the most famous human rights activist on the planet. Or that he is so quick to appease Burma's authoritarian regime by calling it "Myanmar". Barack Obama's gaffes demonstrate not only a marked lack of attention to detail and a high degree of amateurishness on the part of the White House, but also a disturbing willingness to curry favour with unsavoury regimes. Hardly a good omen for Obama's second term. Nile Gardiner in The Telegraph

If the Egyptian army was unable to prevent the killing of 16 border guards by Muslim terrorists in its own base in the Sinai Peninsula, how is it expected to protect the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx?

Egypt's Muslim fundamentalists are now calling for the destruction of the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza under the pretext that Islam prohibits idols. If the extremists have no respect for human life, why should they care about a pyramid or a statue? Murjan Salem al-Johari, one of Egyptian leaders of the Saudi-inspired Wahhabis, otherwise referred to as the "Salafis," said that it was the duty of all Muslims to destroy the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx just as the Taliban destroyed two ancient statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan in 2001.

"All statues in Egypt must be destroyed," al-Johrai declared in a TV interview. "Muslims must implement the rules of Sharia and we will destroy the statues of Sphinx and the Pyramids because they are idols."The call for destroying the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx came after Muslim extremists destroyed, earlier this year, priceless Buddhist statues in the Maldives. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed irreplaceable historic artifacts in Afghanistan after its leader issued a fatwa [religious decree] against all "idolatrous images" of humans and animals.

The call for destroying the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza is yet another sign of the growing influence of the "Salafis" and other radical Islamic groups in Egypt in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring." There is not much that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi, can do to stop these extremists from achieving their goal. Instead of directing his protests against the Muslim terrorists who are intimidating Egyptian Christians and threatening to blow up the Pyramids and the great Sphinx, Morsi is busy trying to stop Israel from defending itself against the rockets and missiles launched from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terror groups.

Morsi has thus far failed to liberate Sinai from the control of the extremists, who have turned the peninsula into a terror entity. If the Egyptian army was unable to prevent the killing of 16 border guards by Muslim terrorists in its own base in the Sinai, how is it expected to protect the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx? Gatestone Institute

KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition MP today claimed Putrajaya may have paid 10 times more than the original price for its laser speed cameras.

Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, speaking in Parliament today, cited quotations on the same cameras made for three states in the US which showed remarkable differences in prices and called on the government to explain.

In a written reply to Jerai PAS lawmaker Mohd Firdaus Jaafar, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had said on Monday that his ministry had paid RM173,925 per unit of Laser Digicam and RM223,500 per unit of Laser Trucam.

Meanwhile, Montana had allegedly paid only US$4,995 (RM15,292.59) per unit while Idaho paid US$5,057.44 (RM15,483. 84) per unit for Laser Trucam and Delaware paid US $6,378 (RM19,526.88) per unit of Laser Digicam.

The prices quoted also included services and warranty. Some of the states were also offered discounts for wholesale purchases.

The police have been supplied with speed cameras in stages since 1995 and the total number of cameras to date is 124 units.

Speaking to reporters, Mahfuz said Putrajaya must disclose the procurement process to avoid any allegations of corruption since the Najib administration had failed to explain similar discrepancies constantly found in contracts involving the government.

"Was it done through open tender? They must answer all this".

The ruling coalition is now struggling to deflect accusations of foul play in its move to implement the AES, which detractors claimed were aimed at enriching some people.

The two firms awarded the contract to implement the enforcement system — ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap — will spend between RM300 million and RM400 million each to set up traffic cameras at 831 "black spots" nationwide.

Both ATES and Beta Tegap are entitled to RM16 per valid summons for the first five million issued. They will then split the remaining revenue evenly with the government up to a cap of RM270 million each.

The firms will each receive 7.5% from the remaining revenue and the government will keep the rest.

Pakatan Rakyat has suggested that the companies are linked to the MCA and Umno but this has been vehemently denied.

Parliament yesterday passed an estimated expenditure Bill for the Transport Ministry which opposition lawmakers claimed were meant for the installation of the AES.

It was passed after two votes were held following a heated debate on the controversy with the ruling coalition beating its counterparts in both polls. -FMT

The following screenshot can only show 202 of the pages read due to the time difference cut off.

To me, this is most unusual. And abnormal. And I am thoroughly puzzled because I don't think my blog is that interesting to warrant a check of 202 pages, some lasting only seconds as can be seen from the screenshots at the end of this post.

Whoever you are, if you are looking for any particular article, please write to me at:

writetomws (at) hush dot ai

I will be most happy to send the specific article/s to you. It would save you a lot of time this way.

The same applies to anyone who is looking for an old article of mine and cannot find it.

I do apologise because as a retiree, I am old and forgetful so I sometimes forget to tag my posts or worse still, put the wrong tag. Hence, you may not be able to find what you are looking for.

So please feel free to send me a request and I will be happy to comply.

Just a note of clarification:I do not blog on politics any more and will never write on political issues ever again.Reason:1. I have come to my senses, given up my political idealism and have returned to the normal world.2. My priorities are:a) Familyb) Healthc) Businessd) Real FriendsSo, if you want to know what I think of the current political landscape, I have nothing to say because I do not even read the local news. To my regular readers who have been coming to my blog even though I have not updated it for a few days, I want to say thank you.

I am very busy at the moment and will update normally when the dust settles.

In the mean time, please take care and may the God whom you believe in bless and guide you always.Whoever you are, why are you just refreshing the page? Please do not mess up my blog statistics. Tell me what you want and I will send it to you.Look at the following screenshots and see the unusual pattern of behaviour.

We know the war between Israel and Palestine will never end.These two sides will never stop murdering each other.While we Muslims believe that the Palestinians have been fighting for their lives and homeland, the Jews believe more or less they too are fighting for their survival.The major difference is that the Jews are far more superior in their artillery and strategies.

They have extremely advanced weapons of war.America loves them more than they care for the Palestinians.The Gaza folks are largely defended by brave fractional fighters who cannot unite under one roof.

They fire at Israel without coordinating in sync with each other.Saudi Arabia pulak appears to be helpless despite the fact that it is our leader in the Muslim world.

When will our Arab leaders unite in the strongest ever bloc and race to protect our Muslim brothers and sisters from being cleansed and slaughtered from the face of the earth?

The Arab world have the oil weapon..Surely they know what to do.I am just a Muslim observer..don't ask me what to do..if the oil reservoirs were mine, maybe I can give excellent, realistic ideas.

We want the war to stop once and for all.No more killing of Jews and enough of our weepings for countless of innocent Palestinians.

The King of Saudi Arabia should start showing his true leadership in our Islamic world.May Allah SWT wake him up and make him roar loudly (not meoww) to the rescue now.Stop being meek and diplomatic..no more dilly-dallying.

Tengok video ni..then kita boleh faham a bit more of the history as to how the nightmare started for the very unlucky Palestinians..painfully sad..kesian sungguh.

Myanmar has been rocked by two outbreaks of fighting between Buddhists and Rohingyas since June that have left 180 people dead and more than 110,000 crammed into makeshift camps.

Suu Kyi said last week that illegal crossing of the shared border with Bangladesh had to be stopped "otherwise there will never be an end to the problem".

The foreign ministry in Dhaka said the Rohingya Muslims have been living in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine for centuries and they could not be Bangladeshi as the country was only founded in 1971.

"The Ministry wishes to express surprise at such comments since these are clearly at variance from the position of the Myanmar Government," it said in a statement.

"There is… no reason to ascribe Bangladesh nationality to these people," it said, adding that since 1971 there had been influxes of Rohingya into Bangladesh from Myanmar due to "internal situations in their homeland".

Suu Kyi has faced criticism for her muted response to the ethnic violence in Myanmar and the displacement of many Rohingyas, who are described by the United Nations as among the world's most persecuted minorities.

Barack Obama will on Monday become the first US president to visit formerly isolated Myanmar, which has recently introduced major political reforms.